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Dr. Patrick Plonski loves living in St. Paul, Minnesota, but he also loves to travel. Luckily for Dr. Plonski, he found a job where he gets to do both. Dr. Plonski is the Executive Director of Books For Africa (BFA), a non-profit dedicated to collecting, sorting, shipping, and distributing books to children and adults in Africa. For over 18 years, Dr. Plonski has served Books For Africa’s mission with dedication and enthusiasm: to end the book famine in Africa. 

The Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Othman Jerandi, tweeted in recognition of the Tunisian government's collaboration with Books For Africa.

Supply Chain Now recently interviewed AU Ambassador Hilda Suka-Mafudze, BFA Executive Director Patrick Plonski, and BFA Board Member Matilda Arhin to discuss the importance of investing in Africa.

The Borgen Project spoke with Books For Africa’s Executive Director Patrick Plonski. Rather than sending the books wherever the organization prefers, the organization operates under what Plonski describes as a “demand-driven” system. Organizations in Africa send out requests for books, which Books For Africa then attempts to meet. The sizes of organizations requesting books range from as small as a village to as large as a country.

As COVID-19 continues to afflict Africa where, according to the BBC, more than 130,000 people have died of the coronavirus and cases are on the rise in many countries, the Saint Paul-based nonprofit Books For Africa is ramping up the quantity and quality of the books it supplies to reduce the continent’s high rates of illiteracy.

"Conversations with Al McFarlane" recently hosted Incoming BFA Board President Al McFarlane and BFA Executive Director Pat Plonski for an interview.